End connector for flexible bracelets



P 9, 1952 A. J. GARREAU I 2,609,584

END CONNECTOR FOR FLEXIBLE BRACELETS Fil ed April 16, 1946 IN VEN TOR.

Patented Sept. 9, 195 2 CONNECTOR FOR FLEXIBLE BRACELETS Armand J. Garreau, Newport, R. I.

Application April16, 1946, Serial No. 662,558

2 Claims. (01. 24-265) The present invention relates to the jewelry art, and has specific reference to a novel end connector construction for flexible bracelets.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a novel end connector for a bracelet of the spring coil type.

An additional object is to provide a self-locking end connector for a spring coil bracelet.

A further object of the invention is to form a novel end connector from stamped sheet metal.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in View, the invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claims appended thereto.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side view showing a spring type watch bracelet having end connections attaching the bracelet to a watch and constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail of one end of the bracelet complete with end connector;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

4 is a perspective view showing the manner of mounting the novel end connector on the end of the bracelet; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective View of the novel end connector.

It has been found desirable to provide an end connector for a coil spring bracelet which is made of a one-piece metal stamping, and which is adapted to be mounted on the bracelet end and to become self-locking thereon. To this end, I i

provide an end connector stamping which has an end roll to receive a watch bail, the sides of which extend over the bracelet end for a desired distance and which lend themselves to ornamentation and decoration, and terminal fingers extending from the sides. and adapted to seat within the bracelet spring coils, whereby the resilience of the bracelet spring coils securely locks the end connector in place.

Referring to the drawings, the spring coil watch bracelet I0 is shown attached to the bails H, [2 of a watch I? by end connectors M, at. The bracelet comprises a plurality of closely adjacent resilient coils 56, whereby expansion of the bracelet is readily obtained by stretching to separate the coils. The coils may be of any size and shape, but preferably are of the elongated fiat sided type illustrated.

are each preferably a one-piece metal stamping,

see Fig. 5, which is formed to provide an end roll I! adapted to receive a watch bail, a body portion [8 adapted to house a selected number of bracelet end spring coils, and a lock portion 19 at the lower end of the body portion which is adapted to extend inwardly between the body portion sides and seat within one or more end spring coils to lock the end connector to the bracelet end. The body portion includes two spaced sides 29, 2! which have upper flanges 22, 23 extending inwardly towards each other and forming curved neck portions connecting the body portion to the end roll, and lower flanges 24, 25 extending inwardly towards each other which are bent away from the body portion to form contiguous downwardly extending fingers 2t, 2? adapted to seat within the bracelet coils and forming the lock portion IS. Th upper edges of the sides as, 2| are parallel to the end roll, and the lower edges are inclined to conform to the inclination of the spring coils, as shown in Fig. 2.

To assemble the end connectors on the bracelet ends, a selected number of end coils l6 which correspond to the width of the sides 23, 2| are moved slightly to permit the end connector to slide over, as shown in Fig. 4; when the end connector is aligned with the end coils IS the terminal lock fingers 26, 2'! extend into and seat within the open interior of the next adjacent spring coils, as shown in Fig. 3, whereby the resilience of the coils securely locks the end connectors in place, with the enclosed end coils l6 housed between the neck portions of the connector and the upper portions of the terminal block tongues.

The above described construction thus utilizes a one-piece stamped end connector which is locked to the end of a spring coil flexible bracelet and is both secure and ornamental, the essential feature of the invention residing in the provision of a connector which houses a selected number of bracelet end coils and has lock fingers positioned within the bracelet end coils.

Although I have described a specific constructional embodiment of the novel connector, it is obvious that it may be integral or of separate elements secured together, and may be of difierent shapes and forms to comply with different types of spring coil bracelets, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An end connector for a spring coil bracelet, comprising an end roll, and a body portion having two spaced sides connected at their upper edges to the end roll by curved neck portions, said body portion sides having their lower edges inclined with respect to the upper ends, whereby the body portion opening at one edge is of greater width than the body portion opening at the other edge, said lower edges each having an inwardlyextending flange.

2. Anend connector for a spring coil-bracelet, comprising an ehdroll, and a bodyportion having two spaced sides connected at their upper edges to the end roll by curved neck portions, 7

said body portion sides having their lower edges inclined with respect to the upper ends, whereby the body portion opening at one edge is of greater width than the body portion opening at the other edge, said lower edges each having an inwardly extending flange, at least one of said flanges having an outwardly extending finger.

ARMAND J. GARREAU.

4 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 7 file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 316,062 Riessner Apr. 21, 1885 437,074 Wood Sept. 23, 1890 1336,772 Rossman fl: :Dec; 15, 1931 1,935,685 White l. -INOVI 21, 1933 2,057,470 Anderson Oct. 13, 1936 2,094,107 Post .Sept. 28, 1937 2;,d3fl l4l Cleinman Jan. 6, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number. Country Date 329,774 Germany Nov. 30, 1920 

